To the Valencia family, love is a weakness that cannot be accepted, and happiness is just an illusion that can be bought with money. This was the way Ashley was brought up, and she has to follow this way of the Valencia’s because expecting love or happiness is like she is trying to be ungrateful to her family since they adopted her when she was just 3. What will she do when the self-made billionaire and CEO of Stone Tech Ltd., Liam Abbot, wants her? She has been so used to shutting everyone off that she doesn’t know how to deal with the fact that someone actually wants her even if he only wants her contract marriage with her. Will she give in to him or is her quiet and lonely life as the Valencia's adopted daughter too good to pass up?
View MoreCHAPTER 43"You know you are acting like someone who is getting married for real; don't tell me that you feel for her." Blake whispered to Liam, whose leg was shaking, as he waited for Ashley to walk down the aisle towards her."Shut up, man." Liam said he was not ready to have that conversation."Come on, tell me." Blake teased, but the pianist they hired started playing the piano, notifying Ashley that she was walking down the aisle towards him.He couldn't help but feel so captivated as he looked at her angelic face. He could tell that she looked so uncomfortable with her father holding her.She is hiding so well that no one would notice that she was uncomfortable, but Liam noticed. He had realised that she didn't have a good relationship with her parents and siblings, but he didn't know that her father made her feel so uncomfortable.He couldn't stop staring at her, though; she looks so elegant and flawless. Liam could feel his heart beating fast at the sight of her, and he couldn
The moment is kind of bittersweet for Ashley as she gets prepared for the wedding in her room. She was sad that it wasn't going to be a real marriage, but she was happy that it was Liam because she had fallen for him if she had to be honest with herself.Her sisters are in the room getting ready with her, and they are surprisingly nice and friendly with her. The two of them assigned themselves as bridesmaids without asking her, but she didn't mind.Deep down, she was glad that they were interested, especially Anna, who had a time when she found out about Liam because she had a crush on him.She is skeptical that Anna has something bad planned, but she decided to be optimistic and hope that her family would support her instead of trying to ruin her day.She also decided that Tina should be a bridesmaid since her sisters were going to be her bridesmaids too. She could tell that Audrey was upset when she found out th
It has been a while since Ashley had a panic attack, but she couldn't help but feel like she was drowning as she entered the house.She was thankful that Leo was quick to action and was able to get her out of the cafe and into his car safely before the paparazzi got out of her, but she still couldn't help but be shaking.She has been rocking herself inside her room for what seemed like days, but she still can't bring herself to calm down.She was grateful that none of her family members were home after Leo dropped her off, but she knew that they would come home soon and start attacking her with their words.Sometimes, Ashley wishes that her family were physically abusive, not verbally. The physical wounds would heal, but she has always been scared of their words.The words have left a lot of unhealed scars in her body that she has not been able to let go of.She was not just scared of what he
Liam was in his office having a meeting with Blake and Isaac when his new assistant, Lydia, rushed into his office.Lydia is a fresh graduate from NYU, and she is surprisingly very good at her job and doesn't try to seduce him.She has been working with Liam for about a week now, and she is slowly learning the ropes of being his personal assistant."Sorry to disturb you, sir, but you need to check page 6." Lydia said it with a panicking look.Confused, Liam picked up his phone to check what was going on and saw videos and pictures of Ashley in her cafe with her friend Leo.Liam has not met Leo yet, but he did a background check on him after Ashley told him about Leo. He found out that they had been friends since high school, and they lost contact after he had to move away after an accident the two had. He also found out that he has some connec
"I can't believe you are actually getting married next week," Leo said to Ashley, who has been quite absent-minded since they met up at the cafe.It has been three weeks since he met her again, but he has not been able to bring himself to tell her about Dilly, who has been avoiding him.Leo has still not met Liam since Ashley told him about who she was engaged to, but he wasn't exactly trying to meet him either. He didn't know much about him since they didn't run in the same circle in high school.Liam was the cool jock who everyone wanted to be friends with, and he was the boring guy who carries his camera with him.He is kind of skeptical about the whole marriage thing, but he knows better than to pry. Ashely didn't really look excited about getting married, and Liam has not shown up to any of their appointments since the wedding preparation started, which made Leo more skeptical.Ashley has been out of it for a while and has refused to open up to him."So, have you thought of bride
CHAPTER 38Liam has picked up his phone more than 100 times to call or text Ashley, but he couldn't bring himself to follow through. He would admit that he has been lagging behind with work because all he has been thinking about is Ashley.It didn't help that he had not been able to find a replacement for Ethan. He had told Ethan about his promotion when he came back from Carlifonia, and to say that Ethan was happy was an understatement.It was bittersweet for Liam, though, because even though he was happy that Ethan was finally getting the recognition that he deserved, he was sad because he was losing a damn good semester.Liam had been prepared for this and even hired a new personal assistant before Ethan left. The mistake he made, though, was not interviewing them herself. Blake had been the one to interview the candidates, and for some reason, Blake chose a dumb bimbo who thinks she could get away with being incompetent as long as she could flash her boobs in front of Liam's face.
CHAPTER 37Ashley has been avoiding her father since she and Liam arrived back in New York about four days ago. Leaving for Carlifonia was bittersweet for Ashley, as she had integrated herself well with the family and bonded with them.They had even included her in the family chat after they left, surprising both her and Liam. She couldn't help but feel emotional when she saw that. They made her feel included and seen, unlike her family.She has not spoken to Liam since then, though, because even though she told him that she was not mad at him for kissing Rachel, she still couldn't help but think about it, and it hurts every time.She wasn't exactly lying when she told him that she wasn't angry. She wasn't angry because she didn't have any right to be because he was not truly hers. She was hurt and humiliated, though; she also couldn't help but feel inferior to her and like Rachel would always win somehow."Uhmm Ashley?" She heard a voice call to her with an unsure voice, and she look
Liam has been in his head for the past few days, and he would admit that he has been miserable. He has been so hyper-aware of Ashley every time he is close to her that he can't even deny it anymore. He has been trying to deny it, but he can't anymore, at least not to himself.He doesn't even know how he was going to survive the whole fake relationship thing with her, and he was already regretting bringing it up in the first place.She had him tied around her fingers, and she doesn't even know what she was doing to him, which made things worse for Liam. The little things she does, like tucking her hair behind her ears when they get in the way, biting her lips when she is nervous, or licking her lips when she is focused on something,.Those things kept driving him crazy, and he has blue balls because of it. Liam was ashamed of it, but he has had to jerk off because of it twice already.Sleeping besid
It's Liam's uncle's birthday already, and Ashley could finally see why Liam and his sibling had been telling her that she would deal with more craziness than she could handle.His family sure had a way of lightening her mood, though. She had gotten a message from her father the day before, and it had put her in a bad mood.Her father was straight to the point, as always."I need you to get married to that Abott boy as soon as you can. Why are you wasting my time? Stop playing family with his family and get him to marry you. You don't want your father's business to suffer, right? Especially since I took you in when no one else would. This is the least you could do for me." Richard sent it to her yesterday after some of Liam's family arrived.She had gone with Liam to get the groceries at the supermarket, and the paparazzi must have taken some pictures of them because they had to rush out of the supe
If there is one thing Ashley craves more than anything else in the world, it is the feeling of her fingers against her keyboard while she is coding or hacking into different servers. She couldn’t help but smirk in satisfaction as she sat in the café hacking into the ZEDD Ltd. server. “They could really use someone like me to help secure their server; it was too easy for me to crack,” she thought to herself, but she knew that it was all wishful thinking. She knows that her father would never allow her to work for someone. He is too proud of that and believes that Ashley should stay at home until he finds the right man to marry her off to. She took the coffee mug and brought it closer to her lip as she sipped the coffee inside the jug. The hotness hit her tongue, which sent thrills down her body. Ashley dropped the mug back on the table and resumed what she was doing. Ashley knows what she's doing is technically wrong, but she doesn't care as long as she's not harming anyone. Unlike
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